Linggo, Disyembre 9, 2018

I dropped by recently at the ritzy mansion of a first class
town mayor in Northern Luzon since I did not break bread with him for a
long time.

I met there too some of his seasoned political leaders that
spiked up and spiced up our conversation about politics.

When I told them about the audacity of assassins murdering
this year politicians like former La Union Congressman Eufranio Eriguel, Sudipen, La Union
Mayor Alexander Buquing,Balaoan,
La Union former mayor and incumbent Vice Mayor Alfred Concepcion, and former
Bayambang, Pangasinan Councilor Levin N. Uy, the mayor told me about the
aborted murder hatched against him.

He narrated that a year ago somebody called him that his
perennial bitter rival, who supports a relative for the mayorship, wanted
to assassinate him.

He immediately contacted his police brass’ friends at the
regional command and sought their help to unmask the perpetrator of the threat.

“They have technological marvel that could trace the location of the owner
of the mobile phone whenever it rings,” he enthused.

“Ya, I know that StingRay liked gadget. When my cellphone
was surreptitiously taken by a theft from my opened shoulder bag in Mangaldan
seven years ago, I told the incident to the then chief of police of Dagupan
City where the device traced the location of my phone in Barangay Caranglaan of
the city,” I cited.

Dagupan City and the Third Congressional District in
Pangasinan have the most numbers of registered voters based on the
latest records of the Commission on Election (Comelec) as of November 15 this
year.

It showed that the 2,956,726 populated province (National
Statistics Office August 1, 2015) has 1,946, 638 voters where Dagupan City and
the one city and five towns' Third Congressional District have 119,164 and 406,
035 voters, respectively.

A normal scene in every election: The inconveniences that meet a voter who has to wade the multitude to search for his name and his designated voting booth at a bulletin board provided by the Commission on Election in the voting precinct.

The district is composed, based from the highest number of
voters, of San Carlos City, Malasiqui, Bayambang, Calasiao, Santa Barbara,
and Mapandan.

The 15 highest vote rich Local Government Units in
Pangasinan and their corresponding number of voters are:

1. Dagupan City :
119, 164

2. San Carlos City:
111, 170

3. Urdaneta
City: 87, 916

4. Malasiqui:
81, 342

5. Bayambang:
75, 911

6. Lingayen:
66, 286

7. Mangaldan:
65, 115

8. Calasiao:
61, 653

9. Binmaley:
60, 870

10. Alaminos City:
56, 863

11. San Fabian:
52, 334

12. Santa Barbara:
51, 863

13. Umingan:
51, 310

14. Mangatarem:
51, 150

15. Pozorrubio:
47, 659

According to an officer of the Comelec, who asked for
anonymity, the 1.947 million voters could be reduced by hundreds only because
of the deletion on the multiple registrations, validation, change of residence,
and others by the Electoral Regulation Board (ERB).